Kat McDonough: Mazzaglia raped Lizzi Marriott after strangling her

Wednesday

Jun 4, 2014 at 8:20 AMJun 4, 2014 at 5:13 PM

DOVER — “It was because of us that she never got to live her life.” Those words were among many that Kathryn “Kat” McDonough, 20, tearfully uttered in court Wednesday as she testified about how she witnessed former boyfriend Seth Mazzaglia, 31, kill University of New Hampshire sophomore Elizabeth “Lizzi” Marriott in October 2012.

Kyle Stucker

Editor's note: This story includes graphic content.

DOVER — “It was because of us that she never got to live her life.”

Those words were among many that Kathryn “Kat” McDonough, 20, tearfully uttered in court Wednesday as she testified about how she witnessed former boyfriend Seth Mazzaglia, 31, kill University of New Hampshire sophomore Elizabeth “Lizzi” Marriott in October 2012.

McDonough, formerly of Portsmouth, also testified that she helped the Dover man cover up Marriott's Oct. 9, 2012, death after she watched him forcibly strangle Marriott from behind using rope and rape the student's lifeless body.

Wednesday was the sixth day of Mazzaglia's trial in Strafford Superior Court. One of the more emotional portions of McDonough's testimony Wednesday came when prosecutor Peter Hinckley asked McDonough whether she had “any remorse” for not helping Marriott and whether she had any remorse due to the fact that, because of her actions, Marriott's body still has yet to be recovered.

McDonough didn't provide a direct reply about whether she had remorse, although she did say Marriott's death was because of both her and Mazzaglia.

“There are so many things that she's never going to be able to do,” McDonough responded while sobbing. “There are so many things that she missed out on. She never got to get married. She never got to have kids. There were so many things that she could've done (with her life).”

Near the end of a long day of questioning that featured other moments of sobbing from McDonough, Hinckley also instructed McDonough to face the jurors — many of whom had furrowed and concerned expressions — to answer questions about her responsibility in the cover-up.

“The horrible, horrible acts that you admitted to doing, from exploiting Lizzi, setting her up, all of the cover-up acts afterward — did you do all of that?” Hinckley asked.

“Yes, I did,” said McDonough.

Hinckley also asked McDonough to admit that she committed “more” than the crimes for which she has pleaded guilty to “cover up what happened to Lizzi” and to tell jurors that she won't be punished for additional crimes if she provides truthful testimony against Mazzaglia.

McDonough replied yes to each of these requests, and soon after also stated authoritatively that she did not kill Marriott, which is what the defense has claimed, because she “was strangled to death by Seth Mazzaglia.” Wednesday marked the first time that the moments that led to Marriott's death on Oct. 9, 2012, were made public. McDonough testified that Mazzaglia strangled Marriott after she declined his request to kiss McDonough while she was nude at the end of a game of strip poker. She testified that Marriott also declined multiple invitations from Mazzaglia to watch the couple have sex in front of her.

Marriott reportedly said she was “uncomfortable” with that scenario and that she was “in a committed relationship.” No sexual activity took place even though none of them were fully dressed, and McDonough said the trio resumed watching a movie called “Darkness Rising” in the living room of Mazzaglia's Dover apartment after he made his requests.

Minutes later, Mazzaglia, who in letters has referred to himself as “Dark Heart” and has referred to a “darkness” inside of him, looped a rope around Marriott's neck while pinning down her back with his knee, according to McDonough.

“She was sitting right next to me and he moved up close behind her,” said McDonough, describing a scene in which she and Marriott sat on the floor in front of a futon on which Mazzaglia sat. “He wrapped the rope up over her head and around her neck and started pulling on it. She let out a quick noise and (then she stopped moving).

“At first she brought her arms up, but then she froze.” The state has used evidence, messages and stories throughout the trial to paint Mazzaglia as emotionally and sexually dominating of McDonough. McDonough said Wednesday that she didn't attempt to help Marriott and didn't call for an ambulance after Mazzaglia strangled Marriott because she loved him and was dependent on him.

McDonough said she also agreed to do a variety of things to help cover it up that night. She testified that she, allegedly at Mazzaglia's request, helped transport Marriott's body to Portsmouth, drag her body into the water below a rocky cliff off Peirce Island, and cover the body with seaweed.

McDonough said she helped Mazzaglia dump the body after two of his friends, Roberta Gerkin and Paul Hikock, saw Marriott's lifeless body in the apartment on Oct. 9, 2012. Before Gerkin and Hikock arrived, McDonough said, Mazzaglia had her stage the body to make it look like Marriott died during bondage sex. McDonough said Mazzaglia also asked her to put a plastic grocery bag over Marriott's head and tie it tightly in order for Gerkin and Hikock to not be able to identify Marriott.

“At the time, I was so in love with him,” McDonough said while explaining why she aided in the cover-up. “I felt like if I lost him, that was it. I didn't have anything else in my life. I felt like it was him or nothing. I didn't have anyone else, and so when he said to do something I thought, 'Well, if I do this I won't lose him.'” After performing the cover-up actions, McDonough said Mazzaglia seemingly praised her by allowing her to be “on top” when he requested sex the next morning.

“He said he wanted to have sex with me, so we did,” McDonough said. “(Being on top) was almost like a reward, like I had done well.”

The actions to cover up Marriott's murder continued in the following days and weeks during conversations with investigators, Mazzaglia's defense team and others, according to McDonough. She even talked with Mazzaglia over a jailhouse phone about marriage, how he was “going to be getting out soon” and how they were going to start a bed and breakfast together.

Hinckley asked McDonough to explain how she could, at the time, still desire a life and future with a man she “saw murder and rape Lizzi Marriott.” McDonough responded with two different explanations.

“I was just so in love and enthralled by him,” she said. “It was also just easier and not having to deal with the truth of what was happening. It was easier to just play along … and pretend that everything was going to be OK.”

McDonough said she ultimately decided to tell the truth for the first time, before a grand jury on Feb. 15, 2013, after being granted immunity in exchange for her testimony against Mazzaglia. That immunity means she cannot be prosecuted for crimes she committed on Oct. 9, 2012, so long as she tells the truth, according to Hinckley.

While explaining why she told the truth for the first time, McDonough didn't reference Marriott by name and didn't express any statements of remorse about her death.

“I knew that if I were to tell them the truth (before getting immunity) that I would be owning up to crimes I did commit,” McDonough said, adding she knows if she lies on the stand that she “could be charged with anything” she discussed in addition to perjury.

McDonough pleaded guilty in July for her role in the case and was sentenced to 1½ to three years in prison in exchange for cooperating with investigators and her testimony during Mazzaglia's trial.

McDonough's testimony is expected to continue Thursday. The trail will resume at 10 a.m., one hour late, because Judge Steven Houran has another commitment in the court at 9 a.m.

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